Pontecorvo

Pontecorvo
Comune di Pontecorvo
View of Pontecorvo
Pontecorvo
Location of Pontecorvo in Italy
Pontecorvo
Pontecorvo (Lazio)
Coordinates: 41°27′N 13°40′E / 41.450°N 13.667°E / 41.450; 13.667
CountryItaly
RegionLazio
ProvinceFrosinone (FR)
FrazioniSan Cosma, Sant'Oliva
Government
 • MayorAnselmo Rotondo
Area
 • Total
88.8 km2 (34.3 sq mi)
Elevation
97 m (318 ft)
Population
 (30 November 2021)
 • Total
12,831
 • Density144/km2 (374/sq mi)
DemonymPontecorvesi
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
03037
Dialing code0776
WebsiteOfficial website

Pontecorvo is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Its population is c. 13,200. The village lies under Rocca Guglielma, a medieval fortification perched on an inaccessible spur. Its name derives from the pons curvus, "curved bridge", that may still be seen spanning the Liri in the center of the town that grew around the bridgehead in the course of the Middle Ages. The curve of the bridge was intended to divert timbers that might strike its piers during floods.

The folk etymology of corvo, "crow", symbol of the "black monks", the Benedictines of the abbey of Monte Cassino, within whose secular territory, the Terra Sancti Benedicti, Pontecorvo lay, is displayed in the town's modern coat-of-arms, which represents a crow surmounting a curved bridge. The town was destroyed during World War II, and rebuilt in a modern style.